Annual Promotion Calendar by Will Phillips REX Industry Roundtables are the premier way to improve your business and your life. Monday Morning Resources brings you a new REX Resource each week with the goal of making things better for you. TOPIC: Proactive Promotions IDEA: Most businesses, unless they are new or under 3-5 years old, stop growing. One way to prevent plateauing is to acquire a competitor. Another is to develop new products and services. Without these, your business will stop growing... unless you learn how to up the ante in selling. There are several elements that drive sales up. One is promotion to generate leads. The accompanying chart is the skeleton of an Annual Promotion Plan for a health club. If you are not a health club, use the concept and modify the entries to work for your business. Promotion of leads is based on creating urgency and developing multiple channels of leads. Most businesses use only a fraction of their lead generation channels. Few businesses know how to create urgency. Building an annual calendar for multiple channels reaching multiple markets infused with urgency can add 15 % sales growth to your business. Guerilla marketing is your last resort. It is a set of tools for your sales people to apply in the 2nd or 3rd week of the month if the other lead generation channels fall short. Guerilla marketing is the "ace in the hole" that strong sales companies have in their back pockets. They have it all planned and ready to go when it's needed to make sure sales quotas are met every month. PROCESS: Review the categories in bold; add or subtract to fit your situation. Fill in 3-10 specifics under each channel. Develop the specifics of each channel. Orchestrate the whole year's calendar to keep the sales push high. Track every activity: What did you do? What did you get? What did it cost? How can we improve it next time? Of course, you will have to expand the attached calendar 3-10x to fit in everything you'll do. Enjoy the revenue growth. And don't forget to tell me what works for you so we can improve this calendar for others in your industry Roundtable. Annual Promotion and Marketing   Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec TOMA Top of the Mind Awareness; Everyone in our market is aware of us and what we do and how we are special. Regional Paper                         Local Papers                         Radio                         TV                         Signage                         Public Relations                         Partnerships                         Banners External                           STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY   PROMOTIONS Offers; Time limited' Urgency; Reasons for acting now. Mailers                         Door Hangers                         No Enrollment Fee: One Day                         Clubs-Just for You                         Contests                         Make Overs                           PARTNERSHIPS Coupon Books                         Sports Team                         Inc. Mbrsp in Housing Development                           ANNIVERSARIES Special, short term reasons for a special promotion, celebration, yours or theirs. Our Opening                         Christmas                         New Years                         Valentines                         Founding of Country                         Mother's Day                         Father's Day                         Grandparent's Day                         Weddings                         Graduations                         Birthdays                         Founding of Town                         Sports Team Victory                           REFERRALS Regular, repetitive campaigns to nurture and develop referrals: our best leads. Banners Internal                         Former Members                         Each Staff Gets One                         Emergency Contacts                         Family Members                           COMMUNITY Public Seminars                         Public Speaking                         Lead Boxes                         Religious Leaders                         Sports Leaders                         Political Leaders                         Arthritis Foundation                         Heart Foundation                         Diabetes Foundation                         Cancers Foundations                         Realtors                         School Fund Raisers                         Golf Clubs                         Hair Salons                         Dry Cleaners                         Sports Retailers                         Restaurants                         Hotels                           GUERILLA Passes at the Mall                         Door Hangers                         Out-going Calls                         Windshield Flyers                         Club Referrals                         Telemarketing                           INTERNET Web Site and Email Web Member Sales                         Web Guest Pass                         Web Buddy Finding                         Email to Be-Backs                         Email Lists                         Email to Alumni                           SALES MANAGEMENT Biweekly Closings                         Special Contests                         Incentives